Re:Gen April 27th

You have been borrowed with a price, so you're not your own. What I love about this is only God can tell you who you are. By His grace and mercy, He says, you are chosen. You are forgiven. You are a new creation. You are a child of God. You are free from sin. You're one with Christ. You're created for good works. You're victorious. You're no longer a slave. You're accepted. You're healed. You're surrounded by God's mercy. You're beautiful. You're not alone. You're strong. You're blessed. You're special to God. You're fearfully and wonderfully made, and you're God's beloved. Praise the Lord. Well, hallelujah. Is anybody ready to praise the Lord this evening? We're going to do that together. Come on. Stand to your feet. How many of you know there's nobody like Him? I searched the world, and it couldn't fill me. And tempted praise, the treasures, the faith. It's never enough.

And you came along. You put me back together. And every desire is now satisfied here in your love. Come on, cry out to Him. Tell Him. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. There's nothing, nothing is better than you. Oh, I believe and I know. I know it's true. And I'm not afraid to show you my weakness, my failures and flaws. Lord, you've seen them all, and you still call me friend. Oh, thank you, Lord. He's the God of the mountain. He's the God of the valley. And there's not a place your mercy and grace won't find me again. Oh, there's nothing better than you. There's nothing better than you. Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you. Come on, let's sing with a hand. I know you know it's true. Say, there's nothing. There's nothing. Nothing better than I. Better than you. There's nothing. He concerns the whole world over me. Better than you. There's no one better. There's nothing.

No. Nothing is better than you. I know it's true. You turn mourning to dancing. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. Come on, tell them. You turn mourning into dancing. You turn mourning into dancing. You're giving beauty for ashes. You give beauty for ashes. You turn shame into glory. You're the only one who can. Come on, somebody say, graze in the garden. You turn graze into garden. You turn bones into armies. You turn seas into highways. You're the only one who can. You're the only one who can. God, you're the only one. Only one who can, but you're the only one, only one who can There's nothing better than you There's nothing better than you Oh, there's nothing, I know it, I know it Nobody's greater than our God Nobody's more powerful, nobody's more awesome Said there's nobody greater There's nothing better than you Lord, there's nothing greater than you

Lord, there's nothing, nothing is better than you Nobody greater, nobody greater Come on, can somebody give God the biggest praise that you're having here tonight? Because we serve a God who is awesome, he is great, there's nobody like him. Oh, what a privilege it is to know him and to be known by him. My name is Angel, I have a new life in Christ. I'm so glad you are here. And if you're new here, we're definitely glad you're here because we're glad you made a step in the right direction. Come on, can we give them a hand? For a lot of you, this is your first night here. It's a tough decision to realize that you can't do it on your own. I was talking with a friend this past week and region is one of those things that reminds you that, especially those of us who have grown up in a church that has been raised in a Christian home, you just think you know all the stuff. You're like, yeah, yes, I know who he is. I gave my life to him as a wee little child, you know, and just like you've just grown into knowing, grown into knowing about him, knowing who he is. But then when the Holy Spirit starts to put his hands on things in your life, he starts to show you ways that you really don't trust him. And you think that you trust him, you think that you say, God, you can have it all,

but then you realize, okay, but the way I reacted here or the way I did this, it shows that I really don't trust you as much as I thought I did. And for me, it showed that I was giving myself a little too much credit to be able to handle my life, handle the things around me. I don't know who I think I am, but I think that I know more than the creator, know more than the one who can give life and take it away. But our God is a God who knows our frailty. He knows how easily we're swayed. He knows how easily we can give up. He knows how easily things can just turn us away. And he still stays so close. He still draws us into fellowship with him and to communion with him. He doesn't want us to be down. He doesn't want us to listen to the lies of the enemy, but he wants us to remember that in him is where our hope is found, in him is where all that we have need of is there. He's come through for us so many times in the past, and so he just wants us to remind us tonight that he's faithful, he remains faithful. He's always going to come through. He's done it before, and he'll do it again. And so we just want to continue worshiping him tonight, the God who is, the God who has always been, he always will be, the God who takes care of us. He holds us in his right hand. Everything that we have need of, we worship you this evening,

God. You are the God who knows our beginning and our ending, and you have the best laid plan for us, and we worship you from that place this evening. Thank you, Lord. Walking around these walls, I thought by now they'd fall. But you have never failed me yet. Waiting for change to come, knowing the battle's won, for you have never failed me yet. Come on, let's declare this together. Your promise still stands. Great is your faithfulness, your faithfulness. I'm still in your hands. This is my confidence. You never fail. ś I know the night won't last ś Your word will come to pass ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Say Jesus, You're still enough ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again

ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again ś Jesus, You're still enough ś Lord, would You keep me in Your love ś My heart will sing Your praise again

God is faithful, oh, you never fail. In the waters do not part, and I wonder where you are. I will trust your Father heart. You are good, good God. When the choices I have made leave me broken and afraid, your great kindness still remains. You are good, good God. I have seen too much to doubt that somewhere, somehow, every season's holy ground. You are good, good God. When I've pleaded and I've begged, and the answer isn't yes, I will trust you know what's best. You are good, good God. I have seen too much to doubt that somewhere, somehow, every season's holy ground. You are good, good God. I have seen too much to doubt that somewhere, somehow, every season's holy ground. You are good, good God. Though my spirit may be weak and I'm stumbling on my feet, your joy will be my strength. You are good, good God. You are good, good God. I have seen too much to doubt that somewhere, somehow, every season's holy ground. You are good, good God. I have seen too much to doubt that somewhere, somehow, every season's holy ground. You are good, good God. You are good, good God.

You are good, good God. God is so good to us. He is so good to us. Let's go before him. Heavenly Father, you are a good God. We thank you that we can come in here and we can declare that tonight. From wherever we are, God, I pray that you would draw our hearts towards you and that you would remind us that it is not the goodness in us in our flesh, it is you that is good. All of the things that are good in us, it is you. So we praise you for the goodness that you have already instilled in us, Father. We pray that you would stir up good works in us, that your Holy Spirit would be thick in this place tonight and that we would be renewed, that our minds would be renewed so that we could do everything that it is, all the good works you have for us because you have a plan. You have a purpose in our life, God. We praise you. We thank you that no matter the mess we have made, that you have called us by name, that we are yours. So God, may your Holy Spirit do a mighty work this night. And in Jesus' holy, mighty name we pray, amen. Go ahead and take a seat, y'all. Thank you for worshiping. with us tonight. Good evening. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. How many of you know that to be true?

How many of you have experienced that to be true? Amen. You know, in fact, Jesus actually says that those who mourn are blessed because they'll be comforted by God. Amen. One of the most profound characters in the Bible, aside from Jesus obviously, well, he's probably top five, I'd give him top five, is David. David was a shepherd, he was an artist, a musician, a warrior, a king, and there's so many stories that are associated with David. When you hear the name David, what stories come to mind? Shout them out. Goliath. Goliath. Adultery. Adultery, yeah. Saul. Saul, yeah. King. What was it? He was a king. He was a king, that's right. There's so many good stories. There's Goliath, there's David with his mighty men, there's him running from Saul, the issue with Bathsheba and Uriah, you know, like all these things. David knew from experience that God was near to him, that God was actually with him, whether it was the good times, Goliath, or the bad times, Bathsheba. David knew that through all the trialing, all the suffering, all of the pain, that the Lord was near. You know, after David killed Goliath, he became increasingly popular. Everybody loved David.

And at the time, there was King Saul. He was the first king in Israel, and David was growing in popularity, and Saul did not like that. Right? Saul started to get jealous and envious, to the point where it grew into anger and bitterness and hatred, and ultimately rage, to the point where he would try to kill David. Right? Some of the stories that you were shouting out. And one time, I remember, in the word, actually Saul had a son whose name was? It's a great name, right? Saul had a son named Jonathan, and Jonathan was one of David's closest friends. And Jonathan recognized the anointing on David's life. Even though his father was king, Jonathan actually helped David to escape from King Saul when he was trying to kill him. And there's a story where David is running from King Saul, and he stumbles into this village, and he runs into this priest named Ahimelech. And Ahimelech is kind of wondering what David is doing there. David lies to him and says he's on official business. You know, he's starting to kind of drift from God's will and do things in his own strength. He's afraid, he's running from Saul, and Ahimelech actually gives David bread, holy bread, from the temple. It's a story that Jesus calls back to in the New Testament. He feeds David, and David, in all of his fear, is asking the priest if he has a weapon. And the priest does have a weapon, however, it just so happens to be the sword that David used to kill Goliath. He has it wrapped up, and it's like there in the temple. And David asks for it, he takes it with him. The same sword he used to cut the head off the giant, this priest gives to David in order to protect himself. Now I'm not sure what exactly gave David this idea, it could have been the sword, it could

have been the fact that maybe the last place that King Saul would look for David is in the town of his enemies. But David decides to run to the city named Gath, which is the actual place where Goliath is from. He goes to this city, it's full of Philistines, people that David has been fighting with, Israel has been fighting with, and I don't know why he thought that would be a good idea. It really doesn't say. But David goes to this town, and immediately... They recognize him, man, that's David, that's the guy who killed Goliath. And David starts to panic, he becomes overwhelmed in fear, and so the best thing he can come up with is I'm gonna act like I lost my ever-loving mind. And he starts to act like a madman. I think we have a picture of David, there we go, that's a good picture. King David, he is like drooling on himself, he's scratching at the gates, he's just acting like he's lost his mind completely, like a plea of insanity in the hopes that they wouldn't kill him, that they would spare him or have pity on him, or whatever. So he's acting crazy. Now, what's funny is that when I read this story, I'm kind of judging David, like how low do you gotta be to just be in this situation? But then it hit me, how many of us claim a mental illness or identify with a mental illness to avoid the consequences of our actions? Probably a lot of us, right, I'm just saying.

But David is here, he's being held in the city, they apprehend him, they take him to the king, and while he's in Goliath's hometown, he writes what we know today as Psalm 56. My name is Jonathan, I have a new life in Christ, recovering from substance abuse, from depression, and this week, struggling with bitterness. We're in a series right now called In His Image. This is kind of an overview of the book of Psalms, and the goal of this series is to recognize how God created us as emotional and relational beings in order to glorify him. Just wanna give a shout out, our Independence Campus, Crossroads Campus, Tipton, Johnson County, online, we're glad you're here tonight. In my mind, there's no better place to be than ReGen. But I wanna talk tonight about Psalm 56. So this is what David writes when he's in this situation. And I'm not gonna read the whole Psalm, it is kind of a little bit lengthy, but it's really like ripping a page out of David's journal in that moment. And he's going back and forth from complaining about his circumstance, about his enemies, to then trusting and putting his hope in the Lord. And then complaining, and then trusting. Complaining, trusting, right, he's going back and forth. But I wanna look tonight at verse eight, because I believe that we should all tuck this verse in our heart when times are tough,

when things are not going the way we want, because I believe it really shows how much God truly cares about all of us. It says this, you number my wanderings. In other words, you're aware of my exile. You know when I am lost. It says, you put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Now, according to this verse, ideally, it shows us that God cares for us so much that he records our suffering. He's paying such close attention that he keeps a detailed account of our pain in this life. Now, there's an ancient practice, this goes back about 3,000 years, and this is a little bottle, right, and they made these, and what they would do, it goes all the way back to Syria, to Egypt, Rome, Greece, and they would take these bottles and they would fill them with their tears. So anyone who was grieving or mourning, they would put their tears into the bottle. Then they would go to the tomb or the burial site of their loved one, and they would give this as an offering to show love and respect to the people that they love. This has been all throughout history. So even like in the Victorian era, they would use these tear bottles, they would fill them up, and they actually would say

that the amount of time it takes for the tears to evaporate is the same amount of time you should be in mourning. Or, in the Civil War, wives would cry, put their tears into these bottles, and then give them to their husbands if they returned home from war as a sign of love and respect. David, who fought many countless battles and experienced great loss, was no stranger to grief, okay? Grief, by definition, is a deep and powerful emotion caused by the loss of someone or something that we held very dear. Grief is not an emotion to be avoided, but something to ignite. college and to be able to walk through. So I want to show you kind of what my bottle looked like. So this is thanks to inventory regen, but when I was five years old, I lost my father in a car accident. That's one. When I was a stepchild, I suffered physical, mental abuse. For the first time, I lost the safe, loving environment and now lived in fear and uncertainty. When I was a teenager, a good friend of mine, Eric, he was also a teammate on my hockey team, he took his own life. Later on, my best friend's little brother was murdered in a situation he shouldn't have been in. As a result of my own poor mental health and addiction, I lost my home, lost my support system, my family, my friends, was alone. My first broken heart when I lost my high school sweetheart, when I got saved, God gave me a Christian mentor, a godly man, and then took him. My inspiring, amazing father-in-law, my beautiful, grace-filled grandmother, and it just goes

on and on and on, right? And what I learned from this, you know, I've lost so many people in my life to overdose, murder, suicide, accidents, as well as like natural causes, but what God taught me through all of it is I am not unique in my struggles. We all have pain, we all have suffering, we all experience loss. Some of you could probably fill a swimming pool with the amount of tears you've had to shed in your life. Whether it's losing a loved one, losing your mental health, your physical health, could be infertility, miscarriage, abortion, betrayal of a spouse, loss of a spouse, the list just keeps going. And I remember at this season of my life, I started to question, is God really for me? Is that true? Or better yet, is God even there at all? Because it sounds awfully quiet when you go through these seasons. What I learned is that all of these doubts and these questions are normal. It's natural for us to feel this way. David, if you read the Psalms, that's almost all it is, him doubting, going back and forth. Elijah, the great prophet, he actually begged that God would just end his suffering. Or Job, who everything was taken from Job, and he actually says, does it please you God to oppress me? Right? He says, do you despise the work of your hands? And I think it's common to feel this way when we go through suffering and loss. There's a great book, a resource, if you're ever struggling with grief, by C.S. Lewis called A Grief Observed, and it's a fantastic book, I recommend it to anyone. But this is, C.S. Lewis is being rigorously honest as he takes an account of his own grief when he lost his wife to cancer. He's kind of processing out loud in this book. He writes about his physical, mental, and spiritual loss and how that affects him. It even shook his faith, and he was full of all these doubts like, is God really good?

Does he really have a plan for my life? I don't know. He starts to kind of waver in this area, and I actually pulled a quote from this book where he is doubting, and C.S. Lewis says, go to him when you're desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, the sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. This is C.S. Lewis, like a great person of the faith. He describes grief not as a series of stages to get through, but more of like this lazy Susan. It's this cyclical experience of times of normalcy, and then interrupted by these sudden plunges of despair, and it just goes round and round and round. Anybody who's grieved knows that it's a process. Your life is never the same, you're changed in a way. And rather than coming to some clean conclusion about grief, C.S. Lewis arrives at a series of shifts. in his perspective. He no longer sees God as this cosmic sadist. Rather, he understands that God was with him the whole time, he was just patiently silent. Kind of like a father who is waiting for his panicked child to calm down so that he'll listen. And C.S. Lewis began to see this. He no longer viewed his wife's death as an interruption to their marriage, but rather the final necessary stage of it. Another quote, he says, the pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal. Grief is the price of love. And so do we stop loving because we go through grief? No. We just feel at a much deeper level. David understood this. David said, I will praise you God, you have delivered me from death, kept my feet from falling so that I may walk before God in the land of the living. And I want you to notice in Psalm 56, it doesn't say, God, you accept my tears as an offering. It says, my tears in your bottle. You put my tears in your bottle. In other words, God assumes our pain. He takes on our suffering. It reminds me of Isaiah 53 where it says, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Also that he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. Hebrew says, we don't have a high priest who cannot

sympathize with our weaknesses. Corinthians says that he comforts us in our affliction so that we may comfort others. As followers of Jesus, as believers, there's hope. There's hope in Christ. We need to have the eternal perspective. We don't grieve unto death like the world because through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to suffer well and to grieve unto life. And one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth and God says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, no more sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away. David comes to the conclusion in Psalms 56 that God is for him. All things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Nothing can separate us from God's love. Do you believe that? That God is for you? Even in the times where you don't understand his plan. I'm excited tonight. I get to introduce Morgan Klein, who's going to give her testimony. Give it up for Morgan. Morgan is a fiery spirit who loves Regen, loves young adults, and I believe God's going to do amazing things through Morgan. Thank you. All right. Hello, Regen. My name is Morgan Klein and I have a new life in Christ. I've been waiting all year to hear that. I'm very excited. I'm recovering from bitterness, anger towards God, sexual assault, resentment, and unwillingness to forgive. Forgive is a key word in my story and it's what brought me here to Regen. Last April, I was sitting in Regen for my first time. It's incredible to see what the Lord has healed me from in just one year. But before I get to my time in Regen, I'll give you my backstory. I was born and raised in California. Growing up, my mom made my brother and I go to catechism, something we dreaded every Sunday. Long hours spent in a classroom with lessons that made zero sense. They made us confess our sins to a priest who could talk to God on our behalf and pray on our behalf. But I never learned how to talk to God directly. I didn't think it was allowed. I'd have memorized the Hail Mary prayer, but I didn't know who Mary was, who Jesus was. I never heard about the Holy Spirit. No one taught me the truth. Sometimes I thought God was real, but most of the time I didn't. Although I didn't have a relationship with God, I always had a good head on my shoulders. I was well-liked by my teachers and coaches. I had a high GPA, was a four-year varsity water polo player. I was team captain my senior year. I never partied, never drank, never had sex in high school. I was the good girl and liked by so many people. I moved to Southern California for college and I joined

a sorority. I started partying and drinking. When I was a sophomore, I went to a fraternity party where I met a man. He seemed nice at first, and then later he spiked my drink, carried me back to his apartment, and he assaulted me several times. It was November of 2014. a night I would never forget. My entire world flipped upside down and I was never the same after that. I lived in fear, fear that I would run into that man on my way to class, see him in the library, at the school gym. I constantly had my head on a swivel. I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't wanna be seen. I didn't wanna be heard. I didn't want him to ever find me. To sum it up, I was living a version of hell on earth, a world full of darkness with no hope and no light. I couldn't focus on my school, my grades were dropping. My parents wanted me to transfer back home, but I refused to let a man have that kind of power over me. Instead, I found a study abroad program. I attended semester at sea during my junior year. I lived on a ship for four months and traveled around the world. There were 600 students and 200 crew members on this ship and I was finally able to breathe because that man was not on the ship. I no longer lived in fear. I was free and my grades were back up. I truly believe it was the Lord's way of saving me in that season.

When I got back to the States, I returned to my old college for the second half of my junior year and finished strong my senior year. And I started going to church with a friend that I met on the ship. I graduated college and I went on a mission trip with our church. When I was on the trip, someone mentioned that the church used to meet in a smaller building before it grew into a mega church. They said that the old church building was across the street from a fraternity house. Turns out it was the same exact fraternity house where I met that man who assaulted me. What were the odds of that? That church and the fraternity house were right next to each other and of all places in Southern California. Are you kidding me? Hearing this, my stomach dropped and I grew in anger and hatred towards God. I was drugged in that fraternity house. That man carried me out of that house, had to walk by that church to get to his apartment. And I had a full on screaming match with the Lord. Asked him why he didn't stop it. Why me? Isn't that church a house of God and you didn't save me? I was helpless in that moment and where were you?

I had an off and on relationship with God my entire life, but I told him I was done. I hated him. That was it. I wanted a life without him and I was serious. Then I heard God audibly speak to me. He said, I was with you, I never left you. I was with you, I never left you. I will never forget those words in that day. I had spent years wondering if he was real and I couldn't deny it anymore. He is real and I had just heard him speak to me. I came back to the States, packed up my things and moved from Southern California to Kansas City for a job. I tried several different churches in KC and I didn't like any of them until a friend invited me to Abundant Life at the Crossroads in October of 2024. I attended Paradigm on Tuesdays and Church on Sundays. I fell in love with the church and the people. I felt at home. In January of 2025, I went through the Next Steps class and I joined a small group. Then I went through Discipleship One where I finally learned the truth about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, something I had lacked my entire life. In D1, I also learned about my eternal life and how I was not saved.

I thought about heaven, a place full of light and love, and then I thought about hell and how I'd already lived my version of it here on earth. My time in college was a place of darkness with no hope, no light, living in constant fear and I did not want that for eternity. So I confessed out loud, Jesus was my Lord and Savior, Romans 10, 9. A month later, I was baptized on Easter Sunday and I surrendered everything to the Lord. My life was his life. So what was next? I heard about Regen and felt the Holy Spirit convict me. I was trapped in my past due to unforgiveness. I needed to biblically forgive this man who hurt me more than a decade ago so I could enjoy the future God had for me. And then I walked into Regen for the first time and I did not wanna be here. I sat down and of course, Pastor Jeff's sermon was about step eight forgiveness. And trust me, I gave the biggest eye roll to God and then I laughed right after because God is funny when he wants you somewhere and then reassures you when you're obedient. So I said, fine, I'll do it, but I have no idea what this program's gonna do for me until step eight forgiveness. That's like a few weeks of groundwork and seven steps of just sitting around and waiting,

but I had spent years in counseling and there was always a piece missing. The Lord immediately started working on me. As my Regen mentor says, God showed up every day with his tool bag and started chipping away. Every step of Regen changed my life. Step one, admit. I admit that I couldn't do this on my own. There was absolutely no way I was going to have to lean on God for this. And in this step, he revealed other parts of my life where I was the problem and I needed to grow. Step two, believe. Believe that God was good? How could he? After what I had been through, there's no way. I didn't know it at the time, but that was a lie from the enemy. Also during this time, God was working other departments of my life. I'm in sales and I run my own business and I told God that if I go to Regen and counseling on top of it, I would need him to carry my business. I couldn't focus on both things. And of course he answered. My business started booming. I was in a covenant with the Lord. I was obedient and doing something that he wanted me to.

And in return, he carried me in my business. He made it so I could focus on just him and I. Also during this time, I received a diagnosis for a swelling issue I had in my legs. I had been to. dozens of doctors since I was 17 years old. I spent thousands of dollars in tests and medications and no one could figure it out. So I started praying about it. And after a month in prayer, I saw a doctor at KU who diagnosed me. I had this condition for 13 years and I finally got an answer. The Lord showed me the power of prayer. He does listen, he is good, he is a healer physically and I wanted him to heal my heart. Step three, trust. This was a pivotal moment in my life. This is where I realized I didn't actually trust God. I said I did, but I didn't. During this time, I was going on a mission trip to Cambodia with Abundant Life. Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, I injured my knee and I could barely walk. I saw a doctor who I trust and know very well and he told me to cancel my trip. But I had already raised the funds, so I was going. But I promised I would take it easy. My region group and everyone on that mission trip

prayed for me. After three days, my pain was gone. I was running around and jumping. I had the joy of Jesus when sharing the gospel. Yeah, and it wasn't a coincidence that I was in step three, trust. My pain was gone until that flight home when it came back. I got an MRI. Turns out I had a grade two sprain in my MCL. I learned that my strength only comes from him. I mean, how else could I have been running around and jumping with an injury like that? From that moment, I really started to trust him. Step four, I took an inventory of my life and the Lord showed me my sins and where I had fallen short. Then I learned how to biblically confess them, step five, and repent from them, step six. At this point, I was so focused on me and my sins and my problems that it became more about me and less about that man. The entire program in the order of steps perfectly prepared me for step eight, forgiveness. I was going to forgive him because I was being obedient to the Lord, but I just didn't know how yet. The Lord wanted to take me back to that night and I was a little scared, but I trusted that he was a good father. And if he wanted to show me something, there was probably a good reason for it.

So I let my mind go back to that night where he spiked my drink and carried me to his apartment. The reality is that walk was probably about 20 minutes, but I had been carrying the weight of him for more than 10 years and that weight was too much. Then I thought of Jesus and how he carried the cross. That cross was so heavy and he did it for me and everyone else. You see, we're called to forgive others because we were not designed to carry the weight of those who hurt us, but Jesus can. God sees everything and he is the ultimate unholy judge and we must trust him. And then I thought of that man. And if we were both standing in front of God, we both have one thing in common, we're both sinners. Our sin may look different, yes, the world will tell you that rape is worse than bitterness, lying, gossiping, idolization, and pride. But the Bible says that all sin is the same and that it separates us from God. And just to be clear, I am not saying the consequences of all sin is the same, but I am saying that I am also a sinner, which the Lord revealed to me through steps four and five. And then I've thought of my anger towards that man. Before regen, I wanted him to burn in hell, but through regen, the Lord softened my heart. That is a horrible thing to wish on someone, to spend eternity burning for one sin.

And then I thought about my eternal life. I have sinned, but I am forgiven and I'm going to spend eternity with Jesus. And if this man can confess his sins and repent, then he should spend eternity with his maker too, because I had learned what true repentance was, step six. So I cried out to Jesus and I said, I forgive him. I cannot carry this anymore. Please take it from me. And it was the most freeing prayer that I have ever prayed. I forgave him on November 20th, 2025. The assault happened on November 21st, 2014. I forgave him one day before it would have marked 11 years. You see, unforgiveness is Satan's way of keeping us trapped in our past. My life was his playground and that stopped right there. Enough was enough. If you're not careful, Satan will steal your life. He stole 10 years and 364 days from me, but he did not steal 11 years, praise God. That is where I got my power back. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but God wants to give you life abundantly, John 10, 10, and God has. I now have so much freedom, joy, and peace in my life. Step 11, intimacy was also a great step. My thoughts of intimacy was tainted through the sexual assault and some former men that I have dated. Seeing how God took care of me, loved me,

constantly pursued me, even when I was being difficult, refrained my thoughts of intimacy. I fell in love with God, which was sweet, considering my past feelings of anger, bitterness, and hatred towards him. He showed me what true love is. And step 12, regeneration. I have a new life in Christ and I am living it out every single day. I'm on fire for this ministry. I tell everyone about Regen and how it's changed my life. I graduated this past January and I jumped right into leadership training. I will shadow our leaders here until the Johnson County campus launches Regen in September, where I will be the orientation leader. This program is long, but trust the process. I was the one girl who kept asking, how much longer will I be in groundwork? When can we move on to the next step? How much longer are we going to spend in inventory? And now that I'm on the other side, I can confidently say that if Regen was a five-year program, I would do it. It is worth the. time and effort. So if you are here, that's right. So if you're here, don't rush it. Enjoy the ride because God will do amazing work in your life and give this 101%.

God is a healer and he wants to perform open heart surgery on you. So be obedient. Lie down on the operating table and give him the scalpel. Don't hold it from him. He knows what you need and how to heal you. You, you just need to be willing to do the work and to follow him. My name is Morgan Klein. I am no longer chained to my past, but I am set free. I've done the hard work. I am healed and I have a new life in Christ. Thank you, Jesus. All right, give Morgan another hand. And we are honored to have been a part of what God done in her life, in her ministry. And now she's went through leader training and as she said, it is just on fire. She motivates me on Monday when I see her at the leaders meeting and man, Johnson County, she is coming your way. So man, it's just a blessing that she gets to and wants to continue to do for others and be a part in their life of what God has done in her life. So thank you, Morgan, for sharing your testimony with us tonight. So man, I have a light load. We actually get to get to our groups on time tonight. This is fantastic.

So man, the only announcement, if you're new and haven't had a chance to check out our YouTube page, they should have the link behind us. You'll see teachings like Jonathan's tonight and Jeff and anyone else who shares, you can go back and watch that. And you can go back and watch Morgan's testimony if you wanna watch that. But if you would just like and share it when you're there. And this helps us spread the word of regeneration.